popular blogger jailed nine years for spreading false information about military on Russia and Ukraine war

The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EST

1:00 p.m.: A Moscow court on Monday sentenced a popular cookbook author and blogger to nine years in prison after convicting her in absentia of spreading false information about the country’s military, The Associated Press reported. The trial was part of the Kremlin’s sweeping, monthslong crackdown on dissent.

The charges against Veronika Belotserkovskaya, who lives abroad, were brought over her Instagram posts that the authorities alleged contained “deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to destroy cities and the civilian population of Ukraine, including children.”

Belotserkovskaya, whose Instagram profile says she was born in Odesa, a city in southern Ukraine, responded to the news of the sentencing by writing that she is, “on one hand, perplexed, and on the other hand, of course, proud.”